Until You Fight Them
by Angel Leviathan
Summary: Trinity needs to know the answer from Neo. Except talking isn't going to cut it; she wants to fight him.


Title: Until You Fight Them

Author: Angel Leviathan

Rating: PG

Spoilers: Just the Matrix in general.

Setting: Sometime between the first movie and Reloaded

Notes: Not sure where this came from. Anyway, I know full well that if he chose to, Neo could absolutely wipe the floor with Trinity and probably accidentally kill her. Still, it doesn't mean she stands no chance against him. If nobody understands Trinity's point of view from this, and why she wants to fight him, send me an e-mail and I'll attempt to explain. Plus, when Seraph said the line about not knowing somebody until you fight them, I thought it looked like Neo did a little double take, staring, before he followed him.

-

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Link stared for a second at the two standing before him, side by side, not exactly sure what was going on.

Neo glanced across to Trinity, who gave a slight smile;

"Why not?" she tilted her head.

"You guys want to fight each other?" Link stared some more, "Holy shit and I thought I'd heard of everything," he shook his head in dismay for a few moments, "You do know what he's capable of?" he directed the question at Trinity.

She smiled slightly, "Wouldn't have it any other way."

"And you're going to let her do this?"

Neo glanced at her again, then back at Link, "She wants a combat partner."

"What about the Captain?" Link proposed.

"No," Trinity glared, "Neo."

It was only then that the operator noticed that Trinity's right hand and Neo's left were locked between the two of them, both standing completely still and completely emotionless, aside from that one link between them. Link sighed, shaking his head again, "Alright. But I hope you both know what you're getting yourselves into," he swung himself round and over a metal box, to the operator station, starting to rapidly bunch a series of codes into the equipment, rummaging around for a disc, which he then inserted in the drive.

"We do," they said in an eerie unison. They gazed at each other for only a second longer, before they separated and settled in two of the chairs beside the ports.

"Some things I'll never understand," Link muttered under his breath. He left the operator station, jumping back over the crate, as he started to depress all the clips and retrains on Neo's chair, "Just don't beat her too bad," he mumbled, reaching for the plug-in.

"I heard that," Trinity stated, the beginnings of a smile on her face.

Neo would have liked to see her expression, but the port entered the back of his head, twisting a final time as Link locked him into the training program. He materialised in the same outfit he had throughout all the simulations; more of a black judo uniform than anything else, and stood waiting for her to appear as well. He might as well keep up the act that he intended to fight her properly, so he adopted a defensive stance before she could even see him.

"You're crazy," Link buckled down the final restraint over Trinity, taking the port in his right hand, "Both of you."

She did no more than raise an eyebrow slightly as her eyes closed and the Real World vanished from her vision. She appeared a few feet away from her partner, clothed in only a pair of black shorts and a strap top of the same tone.

Neo blinked a couple of times, frowning.

Trinity shrugged, "I never did go for the proper outfits," she stretched her arms high above her head, "Shall we begin?" she drew back, steadying her weight on her back leg, drawing her arms in front of her.

He nodded, barely.

She admittedly waited several seconds for him to make the first move, before deciding to take it upon herself. She rushed him, aiming several strikes at his chest, all of which he deflected, before she turned her attention to his knees, trying to bring them out from under him. Neo simply jumped and avoided her attack, making no attempt to hit back at her. Trinity used the speed she had built up to warp the barriers of the training program, jumping up and aiming a spin kick to his head, only to have him use his left arm to send her off-course and both his hands to push her back, sending her into a flip mid-air, from which she landed, with great ease on her feet. Trinity stared at him, drawing back again into a fighting stance, "You're not playing the game," she stated, eyes narrowed.

"What game?" Neo questioned, calmly. 

She tilted her head, "You know exactly what I mean," she stated, rushing at him again. He deflected all of her attacks on his upper body, before she finally landed a swipe that cracked against his ankles and brought his body out from under him, crashing to the woven mat.

Neo sat there, a little stunned, for a moment.

Trinity glared down, the closest to anger she ever got concerning him, "I wanted a sparring partner. You're not fighting back," she repeated.

He flipped back to his feet, directing several strikes at her head and neck in quick succession, all of which she managed to block. He tried to make contact again, only to have her jump clean away, run up a small section of the wall and flip back over his head, landing directly in front of him. Neo took this opportunity to land a hit, sending her crashing into the opposite wall. Shit! He half ran over to the other side of the simulated room, "Jesus, Trin, I'm sorry-" he didn't get to finish as she sprung back to her feet, trying many, but only landing one strike to his chest. He blocked her final shot, leaving them locked together, faces merely centimetres apart.

"Now that's more like it," Trinity whispered, jumping back away from him.

He stared at her, thoroughly confused, not wanting to harm her again, thinking this all through as he saw her aiming a high kick from her right leg at his head. He twisted away, grabbing her leg and whirling her round again, back to her feet, not seeing her bring her left leg up on the back spin, connecting with his neck. She seemed completely unafraid.

"I'm not that much of a pushover, Neo," she breathed, as he effortlessly blocked another two of her shots, a small stream of blood making its way down her jaw-line from her temple.

He caught sight of it and backed off, only to have her lock them together again in an attempt to make contact, "I don't want to hurt you," he countered.

"Try me," a spot of the blood dripped from her face to the carpeting. 

Shit. She actually wanted him to _fight_ her. He never wanted to be the one responsible for the bruises and cuts he had seen on her, the ones she had tried to hide, on their returns from the Matrix.

Trinity glared defiantly at him, standing absolutely still.

Nothing else for it.

Neo rushed her, instantly knocking her to the floor, somewhat relieved when she flipped back to her feet and made swift contact with her angled foot at the back of his neck. He jumped to avoid another attack, landing barely in time to see her rush up one of the wooden beams, deciding to do likewise, they leapt at the same instant and locked mid-air, time seeming to slow around them.

"You're still holding back," Trinity almost growled.

"You want me to hurt you?" he replied incredulously.

"I want you to fight me."

They both hit the floor, she dropping back and rolling out of the way as he charged her, though he never saw the fist that came from nowhere and collided with his jaw, causing the taste of iron to fill his mouth, spitting a clot of blood onto the floor. Neo saw the brief look of shame and shock that passed across her features, well disguised though they were. However, she hadn't stopped her attacks. He used his left leg to connect with her right knee, sending her to one knee, only to have her flick her right fist up and nearly collide with his stomach. He winced, hearing the crack of her joints as he forced her right arm behind her. Trinity countered by using her weight to flip back, up and over him-

He didn't want to do this. He didn't want to-

He countered her force and slammed her almost full force into the ground, the wood splintering under the power of the attack.

What had he done?

Trinity lay absolutely motionless for a few seconds, before slowly opening her eyes, wiping a stream of blood from her cheek with her right hand, wincing with the pain the movement caused her.

"Trinity!" Neo cried aloud, kneeling beside her, not tearing his gaze from her, "Link!" he shouted, "Link! Get her the hell out of here!"

A look of certain confusion flickered on her face as she vanished from his touch.

He had mere seconds to contemplate alone before he was ripped away from the simulation and awoke back in the Neb, Link rapidly undoing the fastenings keeping him strapped to the chair. He almost shoved the operator aside, jumping out of the chair and racing to Trinity's side. A trail of blood ran down from several points on her temples and from her nose, starting to be absorbed by the material of her grey jumper. Neo had to take in her appearance, knowing it was him who had put her in such a state, "Why?" was all he managed to utter.

A small smile graced her features, only for a second, as she winced in pain, "Because it had to be done," she said softly.

"What do you mean?" Neo almost demanded, one hand cradling her head, the other on her shoulder, adopting almost exactly the same posture she had when she brought him back.

"They say you have to fight a person to truly know them," Trinity stated, bringing up one hand to trace the single line of blood that was flowing from his right temple, "I had to know…." she didn't look away for an instant, "that if it came to it…nothing would change. That no matter how badly beat up I got, nobody could hurt me as much as you."

He shook his head, "Why did you make me do it, Trin? You have no idea how much that hurt to.."

"I know," she stopped him, "I know. Every time I struck you, I knew."

Neo looked away, a feeling of self-loathing overtaking him, seeing the bruises already rising on her skin, "Jesus. These are going to take weeks to heal…" he uttered softly.

"You didn't exactly come off scot-free yourself," she countered, raising her left arm to show some bruising on his arms, and knowing full well he was slurring his words to avoid moving his jaw painfully out of joint.

"Promise me you'll never ask me to do that again," he started to gather her into his arms, carefully.

Trinity closed her eyes in a sudden wave of fatigue, "I promise," she yawned quietly and allowed herself to be carried away. She smiled slightly as he opened the door to their quarters and laid her down on their bed, lying down beside her. She had her answer. A pity she still wasn't sure what the question was. 

-

Fin


End file.
